Gifts for Everyone for Under $25

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For Teachers

Consider taking up a collection from the entire class and pooling your money together for a gift basket of the teacher’s favorite coffee, a new book, a pair of cozy socks, and a soft throw blanket.

Or maybe a tree of gift cards to her favorite restaurants and stores.

Do you know a teacher who would not love a day at the spa for some much-needed pampering? Or maybe tickets to her favorite concert or theater production?

Yeah, me neither.

If you find yourself on your own, here are some thoughtful and inexpensive ideas.

Personalized Pencils $12.95

These are adorable. And they will ensure the students will return the pencils after borrowing them.

Everyone needs at least one (more) super-soft throw. Here’s a nice one that comes in pretty colors.

Soft Throw Blanket $13.95

The thing is, most teachers won’t spend their hard-earned money on things like holiday hand towels. But they would love some cute holiday hand towels. And that’s where you come in.

Set of Cute Holiday Hand Towels $12.98

Mason Jar full of stuff

You can put anything into a mason jar, tie a beautiful ribbon on it, and make it look festive.

For a free idea, fill the jar with “what I love about you most” notes from each child in the class.

For an inexpensive gift, try some hot cocoa mix and some marshmallows or bath salts. Mints, gum, M&Ms are always a nice option. Or how about a set of colorful new pens?

Set of 12 16oz Mason Jars with Lids $12.50

Bath Salts $4.87

Peppermints $11.89

Gum $6.57

Pens $7.89

For Teens/Young Adults/Babysitters

Most teens will appreciate gift cards to their favorite restaurants or stores. Or better yet…cash. Teens like cash. But if you want something a little different, here are some great ideas on the cheap.

Air Vent Phone Mount $16.99

To help with GPS while also being hands-free.

142 Piece Wood Art Set $24.99

For the teen who loves art…

Clip-on Book Light $9.99

For the teen who loves to read…

Waterproof Bluetooth Speaker $19.99

My son has one similar to this and uses it every day in the shower…

Night Light Bluetooth Speaker $19.99

Okay, this is just awesome.

8×10 Hardcover Lined Journal $20.49

My favorite brand of journal. Hardcover, lined, and pretty.

Photo Clip Remote String Lights $9.88

Gasp! I love these so very much!

T-Shirt $14.95

Said every teenage boy…

Water-Resistant Backpack $21.99

Backpacks are useful for everything.

For Your BFF/Neighbor

If your BFF is a mom with small children at home, a $10 gift card to your local coffee shop and a handmade coupon for free babysitting would be amazing (maybe I’m only speaking for myself here, but I would have loved if someone would have given this to me 10 years ago).

If you are on a tight budget, a tin of homemade cookies or peppermint bark says, “I’m thinking about you” without also saying, “I took out a second mortgage for you.”

Depending on what your friend/neighbor likes, here are some things that I would like if I was your BFF or neighbor (hint hint).

For the friend who likes to cook

A Place at The Table: Fresh Recipes for Meaningful Gatherings, by Kelly Minter (hardcover) $19.89

I have this book and I absolutely love it. The recipes are delicious, the pictures are stunning, and the stories woven throughout are thoughtful and funny.

Silicone Oven Mits $14.97

Oven mits get gross when you cook a lot. Here are some that are durable.

Marble Salt and Pepper Pinch Bowls $19.99

Your friend will feel like she’s on a cooking show with these!

For the friend who likes house stuff

Rustic Farmhouse Letterboard $22.87

One time in elementary school, we had a board like this in our classroom. Our teacher wrote “Come Holy Spirit” on it. My friend changed it to “More Chilly Spit.”

Fun times.

Taper Candle Holders $22.99

These are so cute and can go anywhere.

Bridgewater Candle, Sweet Grace Scent $20.99

Last year my friend bought this exact candle for me. Since then, I’ve bought about 5 more. It smells divine and supports a great cause!

For the friend who likes cozy clothes

Super Soft American Eagle T-Shirt $24.99

You haven’t felt soft t-shirts until you’ve felt AE soft t-shirts. They come in every size and style. I have this one in burgundy and black.

Cozy Blanket Scarf Wrap $13.99

When blankets can be worn as clothes, I’m here for it. Comes in many colors and patterns.

Cozy Fleece-Lined Socks $12.99

Tis the season for cozy socks (preferably by the fire with a good book.)

Finding Your Balance $14.99

Speaking of good books…this makes a GREAT GIFT for your frazzled friend!

For Parents/Grandparents

Parents/Grandparents are hard. They most likely have everything they need. And more often than not, they don’t want more stuff around the house. When I was growing up, my mom asked for the exact same thing every year: Her favorite perfume and nylon knee-hi stockings. “That’s all I need ” she’d say.

If you’re like me, you want to get something that is meaningful but won’t clutter the home. But also isn’t nylon knee-hi stockings. 🙂

Most parents would love an updated framed family photo of you and your little family. Frames are inexpensive and available everywhere. Grandparents always love something homemade from the kids. Truly. They love it. Pinterest is full of fun DIY craft/gift ideas for children to make.

Maybe you can pool your money together with other adult siblings and send mom and dad on a nice dinner to a restaurant they wouldn’ splurge on for themselves. Or maybe tickets to a theater production or favorite concert. A few years ago, we replaced all my dad’s old bath towels–he was literally using the same tattered ones since I was a kid. It wasn’t fancy, but it was much-appreciated.

Bird feeders are always nice. Parents and grandparents can sit by the window or on the porch and enjoy the view. Here’s a cute one for a great price! Add a bag of birdseed and you’re still under $25!

Bird Feeder $11.99

Christmas Ornament $19.99

A personalized ornament is always thoughtful. Here is one I absolutely adore.

Family Birthday Calendar $17.99

If we did not have 10,000 children in our family, I’d totally get this for Jon’s parents.

Distance Frame $20.00

Since having children, we have always lived far away from grandparents. Last year, we bought this for our Florida Grandparents from their Kentucky Grandkids. Of course, the states and names are customizable.

For more ideas about spending less this Christmas, listen to The Balanced MomCast EP28

The Surprising Source of Your Balance Struggles

My son, Elijah is currently learning to drive. In the state of Kentucky, where I live, a 16 or 17-year-old must drive 60 hours with a licensed driver over the age of 21 before he can take his final road test.

Parents, for those of you who haven’t done this wretched chore yet, let me just warn you: nothing has struck fear in my heart quite like sitting in the passenger seat when my new driver is merging onto the highway. It will drive you to drink. Ironically, it’s one time you absolutely cannot drink—since being under the influence is generally frowned upon during driving instructions.

I swore, after my daughter got her license a few years ago that I’d never ever ever ever ever ever ever teach another Cooper kid to drive. Sorry, Jon. It’s all you. I potty trained them, YOU teach them to drive.

But because I am the one who is with my son in the car 90% of the time, I realized that he’d be 25-years-old before he got his license if I waited for Jon to accumulate 60 hours in the car with him.

So, it’s me.

Yay.

Thankfully, Elijah has been driving an ATV and a large riding lawnmower since he was 14-years-old. This, amazingly, has given him and edge over his older sister, and thus, has helped me feel a little less anxious during his driving lessons. On the other hand, he struggles with ADHD and he’s obsessed with cars. This is a lethal combo when he’s driving. Pulling out onto a busy street with, well CARS, becomes a major act of self control for him. What he is tempted to do is notice the year, make, model, color, engine size, and interior features of every. single. car. that. passes. us.

One thing I learned early on that works well for both me and my student driver (other than the obvious KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE ROAD!), is to give him a good idea of what’s coming up BEFORE WE ENCOUNTER IT, and how he to handle it. Sure, he’s learned the basics about traffic laws in his driving course, but the specifics about the routes we drive on a daily basis? He won’t get those from just knowing the laws.

So I will warn him about about famous potholes or certain roads where traffic is difficult to see. I will coach him well before a dangerous intersection how to navigate it safely. Cars are scary. Driving is no joke. I want him to feel confident as he moves toward greater independence in driving. And I also don’t want him to crash my new car.

***

I am super-passionate about equipping you to live a well-balanced life. And one major way I feel like I can do that is by giving you an idea of what’s coming ahead, and how to handle it.

Today that means exposing your spiritual enemy and his strategies, so you can recognize these tactics in your own life, and address them effectively.

And I’ll do my best to discuss the devil without creeping you out.

I recently finished working through Priscilla Shirer’s Bible Study, The Armor of God for a second time. I have never done a study that has opened my eyes to the spirit realm or better equipped me for spiritual warfare like this study. I seriously cannot recommend it enough. It has absolutely changed my life and how I approach almost everything.

As I was working through it, I was thinking about you, and all the ways Satan strategizes against you as a woman of God.

If the enemy can keep you in a constant state of overwhelm or anxiety…if he can suffocate you with temptation or insecurity…if he can intimidate you with fear and worst-case scenarios…well, then you certainly won’t have peace to know your priorities and live them out.

So, today I’m going to give you 4 ways he’s always trying to keep you off balance. And at the end, I’m going to tell you what to do about it.

1. Distraction—the enemy wants you to be without focus

First, he wants to distract you from his work.

Ephesians 6:16 tells us to take up the shield of faith with which we can quench all the fiery darts/flaming arrows of the enemy.

In warfare, flaming arrows were often used, not to kill or destroy, but to distract! Not to shoot directly at the other soldiers engaged in the battle, but to shoot instead at a wagon, a chariot, or a home of the soldier. This tactic would disrupt the military lines and cause the occupants to focus on the blaze rather than the battle at hand. Then, when the solider was distracted by putting out the fire, the enemy would move in for the attack.

Listen, the enemy does not want you to think he’s behind your balance struggles, so he will do anything to keep you distracted from him. He wants you to think it’s anything but him…it’s your husband and his insensitivity to your needs. It’s your kids and their bad attitudes. It’s your mom and the way she always makes you feel like you can’t get it right. It’s your church, it’s your neighbor, it’s your boss…If he can keep the focus off him and his work, you will always be fighting the wrong thing.

Satan is behind fear, anxiety, overwhelm, frustration, hate, discontentment, pride, envy, striving, hopelessness, shame, temptation…all of it. But he’s over here going, it’s not me, it’s him! It’s her! It’s this situation!

He wants you to fight a person or a situation or a circumstance, because he knows, if you start fighting him with the spiritual weapons God has given you, he must flee.

Second, he tries to distract you from your priorities.

We know that balance is all about knowing your priorities and living them out. If the enemy can keep you distracted from doing the things that are most important to you or the things that God has called you to do, he’s good.

He doesn’t even care if you are doing sinful things. He just doesn’t want you to do what God has called you to do. He wants you to be busy with so many other things, you can’t possibly get to what God has called you to do.

I don’t know if we have ever lived in a time that is so wrought with distraction. This is not news to you, but I’ll just offer this as a sober reminder: your phone, your computer, your newsfeed, your Netflix cue…all those things are distractions or gateways to distraction. No, I’m not saying Netfilx is satanic or that busyness is evil. I’m just saying, the enemy will use those things to distract you and lose your focus.

2. Discouragement—the enemy wants you to be without hope

He wants you to have no hope for change in your circumstances—I will always be busy. We will always struggle financially. I will always need to work outside the home.

No hope for change in your children—my daughter will always struggle academically, my son will always have a bad temper. My kids will never have good friends.

No hope for change in yourself—I will never get a handle on my emotional eating, I will never get organized. I will always yell at my kids.

Proverbs 13:12 says hope deferred makes the heart sick.

When we are discouraged and without hope, it damages our heart. Not our literal heart, but the center of who we are. The word tells us to guard our heart above all else, because out of it flows life. If the enemy can keep us discouraged and hopeless, it will affect everything—our prayers, our peace, our parenting, our entire lives.

3. Deception—the enemy wants you to be without Truth.

One thing we know for sure about Satan, is that he’s a liar. In fact, Jesus called him the Father of Lies (see John 8). That means he’s the originator, the founder, the inventor of lies. He lies about everything. But here are a few areas in which he lies to women in particular:

Who God is: He is not good, He is not loving, His motives for you are not good. He won’t answer your prayers. He can hear you but he doesn’t care. God doesn’t like you. God is mad at you. God’s messing with you, He’s holding out on you.

Who you are: you are flawed, broken, dirty, ugly, fat, angry, impure, unloveable, trapped, bound, unforgivable, stupid, not enough, too much.

If he can convince you that God is against you or that you are unworthy to approach God, then guess what? You won’t pray for wisdom. You won’t pray for strength. You won’t pray for direction. You won’t pray at all.

4. Division: the enemy wants you to be alone and isolated

He knows the power in unity. He knows what happens when the body of Christ functions in health and every part does its work. So, he will tempt you to be hurt and offended any chance he can. And if he can get you all fired up so you need to “vent” to someone else, and you get THEM all fired up, even better. The more people he can drag into division, the more isolated you will become.

And then he will tempt you to nurture and feed and caress that offense like it’s a pet, until it morphs into unforgiveness and eventually a root of bitterness.

He’ll sow seeds of division everywhere:

In your marriage

Between you and your kids

Between you and your Extended family, in laws, siblings

In your Church

In your Friendships

At your job

4 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. ²Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. ³Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. ⁴There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; ⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism; ⁶one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
⁷But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it…
¹¹So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, ¹²to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
¹⁴Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. ¹⁵Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. ¹⁶From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
Ephesians 4

Unity is powerful. As we join together with our brothers and sisters in Christ, with our families, with our neighbors, with our coworker, with our girlfriends, and we all refuse to be divided, but instead link arms and hearts together and operate in our natural gifts (what ever they may be) something amazing happens: We become mature. We grow. We aren’t fooled anymore about what’s right and wrong. We become more loving. This is precisely why the enemy wants you alone.

***

We all struggle with discouragement and distraction and loneliness from from time-to-time. We all struggle to understand Truth. We know these things throw us off balance–this is not news. What may be new information for you is who is behind it all. Maybe you never considered that there is a whole thing going on in the spirit world that is causing you to struggle.

OK, Sandy, you said you wouldn’t creep me out, but you’re being super creepy. What the crap, Sandy? What am I supposed to do?

We must fight spiritual battles with spiritual weapons.

The Apostle Paul, later in that same letter to the Ephesians says this:

¹⁰Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹²For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
¹⁸And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
Ephesians 6

We must put on the armor of God, and pray. Stop fighting your people. Stop fighting your circumstances. Instead, pick up your spiritual armor and do battle with the real culprit.

To download a copy of a scripture-based prayer concerning our spiritual battle for balance, click here.

This post is adapted from Episode 6 of The Balanced MomCast. You can listen on iTunes , stream from the web, or listen on Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, and Alexa…all the places.

My #1 Tool for Keeping My Balance

Balance is all about knowing your priorities and living them out. Today I’m giving you the one thing that most consistently helps me live out my priorities.

Today is all about lists.

Most people I know have strong feelings about lists. They either love lists with all their mind, heart, soul, and strength. Or despise lists with a red hot passion. If you are in the “hate” camp, hear me out: I will submit to you, that you probably hate lists for one of these reasons:

you are not a naturally organized or structured person, so list-making is difficult for you
you are not using lists correctly

This will probably not come as a surprise to most you who have known me for longer than a day, but I am a natural list maker. This activity flows well with my personality—that doesn’t mean I always do it well, but when I do, it’s fairly easy for me.

Many of you are not naturally good at list making, and that’s okay. But it does not mean you don’t need lists. I am not a naturally spontaneous person, but that does not mean that I don’t need spontaneity.

Also, I would argue that even the most laid back, unstructured, easy-breezy-beautiful (Covergirl) people do better in life with some sort of order. Studies show that our brains actually crave order, because order reduces anxiety. I think it’s safe to assume we could all use less anxiety, right? Right! Lists have proven to be one way to achieve and maintain this order that our brain needs, by providing structure to our days and by helping us to remember important things.

Just to be clear: Lists are not balance. Time management is not balance. Productivity and order and structure in an of themselves are not balance. Balance is the peace we have when we know our priorities and we are living them out. Lists are a simply a tool to achieve that balance.

It’s one thing to identify our priorities. It’s an entirely different thing to build our schedules and our lives around those priorities–to look at our daily calendar and literally plug those things in.

Maybe you’re sitting here thinking, “I get overwhelmed with lists! It’s too overwhelming to make a list and maintain a list. I fear the list!” I understand. I get overwhelmed very easily. I get overwhelmed at the thought of becoming overwhelmed. Some people fear heights or spiders or the dark–I fear becoming overwhelmed. It’s the actual worst. So, I say this with all the empathy in the universe: If lists overwhelm you, you probably need to change how you “do” them.

When you’re using lists in the wrong way, they feel like bondage—like you’re a slave to your to-do list. I don’t want you to be a slave to anything apart from Christ! When I’m using my lists the correct way, they feel like freedom—they literally free up my day to live out what is most important and meaningful to me. Don’t you want to actually do the things and be with the people who are most important to you? Of course you do. That’s where the true balance/peace becomes a reality.

Four Different Kinds of Lists

To-Don’t List
To-do List
To-day List
To-Done/TaDa! List

The To Don’t List: What I prayerfully neglect for the sake of balance.

These are the things I do not do on purpose. These may be things I actually identify as priorities, but not now. Or maybe they are things that I love to do, but I need to set them aside because of my season or lack of time. Or maybe they are things that I feel like I’m supposed to do because everyone else does them or maybe my mom did them or the internet says I should do them, but I know I cannot or should not do that right now, or ever.

One thing that is currently on my To Don’t List is using coupons at the grocery store. I think using coupons is smart. It makes good budget sense. But it’s also time-consuming. For years, I carried around this underlying guilt because I would go to the store every week without my coupons and I’d keep thinking to myself, “I should have cut the coupons.” Sometimes I’d remember, and I’d be very happy I remembered and saved my $16 or whatever, and then other times I’d forget again. Or I’d take all the time to cut them and then I’d forget them. Or I’d keep putting off going to the grocery store until we got down to mustard and dried beans, because I’d want to cut my coupons first.

Then one day I decided, I’m just not doing that right now. I’m letting it go. I am going to neglect cutting coupons for the sake of balance.

I recommend the To Don’t List be an actual list–write it down! Because if you are anything like me, you may be tempted to keep picking that thing back up and letting it weigh you down. When my kids were babies and toddlers, my To-Don’t list was a mile long. I prayerfully neglected a lot of things simply because my babies required a lot of time.

For more on the To-Don’t List, check out this post and this post and this post

The To do List: What needs to be done eventually.

I actually have two different kinds of to lists. A Master To Do List and Special Category To Do Lists. It sounds complicated, but it’s not.

Master To-Do List: This is the list where, when something pops into my head, big or small, it goes on this list. Some items on my current master to do list: Call our insurance company, paint my daughter’s bedside table, wrap my other daughter’s birthday presents. It’s hodge-podge. It’s everything.

This helps keep my mind clear, so I don’t try to carry all this in my head or forget something important (the worst!).

Special Category To-Do List: This is exactly what it implies. This would be a shopping list or a “Things to Do Before Vacation” list or a special project list.

I currently have a “writing to do list” and a “women’s ministry to do list.” Maybe yours may be a homeschooling list or home projects.

Big Important Thing about This List: I do not work off this list daily!!! I don’t open this list up at the beginning of the day and start trying to do stuff. Rememeber the Overwhelm? Yeah. If I look at a list with 30 random items on them and try to work from that, I will cry.

No, this is the list I pull from when I’m making my ToDay List

The To-Day List: What I’m doing today

The To-Day List is my most favorite of all the lists in the land. This is where everything that’s important to me gets an actual place in my schedule. I look at my Master Lists and I pull items off, one at a time, and plug them into my day. I give them real time slot and I schedule them in.

I make this list out daily, and consult it several times a day. It only contains a few items, because time is finite. I can only do so much. I try to only put on my list what I think I can actually do. This way, I don’t feel like a slave, neither do I become overwhelmed.

The To-Done/Ta-Da List: What I’ve accomplished

One of the most satisfying things for a list-maker is to cross stuff off and to look back and see all you’ve accomplished. Just saying that makes me all warm inside. The To-Done/Ta-Da List is that–the ToDay list with everything crossed off it. If you are a person who gets to the end of the day and can’t remember what you did, this one is for you. Not everyone needs this, but I do. It’s very good for my psyche to look back and remember everything I accomplished in a week. Right now, I’m actually keeping my To-Done/Ta-Da Lists so I can see the progress I’m making on certain projects. It’s the bomb.

List-Making Tips

Use whatever planner works for you. If you like fancy planners, then go for it. I personally use a 3 ring binder from Target, or like this one which is much prettier, loose leaf paper, and a simple set of tabs.
On your To-Day list be sure to include all the things that are important to you. On my To-Day list I include my workout, what I’m making for dinner, my daily prayer focus, any household chores I’m doing, appointments, meetings, and kid activities (extracted from my iPhone calendar), and whatever I’ve transferred over from my Master list.
At the end of the day, look at the To-Day list and circle anything you didn’t get to. If you still need to do it, then find a place where it makes sense. If you can let it go, then cross if off and let it be free.
Don’t write too much. I’m notorious for thinking I can do more than I can actually do. Everything always takes longer than I think it will. So I under-plan. I can always add something if I miraculously get it all done.
Take a good month or two or ten to find your groove. Don’t give up too quickly.
If you do something that is not on your list, by all means write it down and cross that sucker off. Heck yeah. The satisfaction is worth it.
Schedule margin into your day.
Start each week with a fresh Master to Do List. The simple act of transferring items to a new list can help you discern if the items are things you should even be doing. It will also give you weekly reminders of what has been lingering on your list for awhile (I have some items that have been on my Master List for over a year.) It also brings some clarity, as things naturally bubble up to the surface in priority.
Take 1 minute before you go to bed to look at your list and jot down the next day’s things. I like to do this because as I lay in bed or when I’m getting up and brushing my teeth and getting my coffee, my mind is already thinking about what I’ll be doing. It helps me stay focused on just the day’s tasks and mentally prepare.

The post was adapted from Episode 5 of The Balanced MomCast with Sandy Cooper. You can listen on iTunes or stream from the web.

This post contains affiliate links. That means if you click through and purchase an item through the link, I will receive a small commission for sending you there at absolutely no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting me as I provide you with free content.

8 Things Well-Balanced People Do Differently

1
They define what a balanced life means for them.

They realize true balance is knowing and living their priorities; therefore, well-balanced people clearly define their priorities. They have a vision for what they value, where they are going, and (most importantly) where they are not going. They recognize the temptation to look around and compare themselves with others—but they are experts at tuning out all the voices contrary to their values.

2
They simplify.

They are masters of minimalism and efficiency.
I don’t mean they all have a capsule wardrobe and sparse home décor. I mean, if they can make something simpler, they do it—their schedule, their closet, their routine, whatever. They recognize that it takes a little work on the front end to declutter a home or unsubscribe from unwanted e-mails, but the results will carry through for months or even years. Ultimately, their simplification clears up time to pursue the things that truly support their values.

3
They set goals related to and supporting their priorities.

Once they have a vision of what balance means for them, they set goals that directly support that vision. Some may actually write down their goals and others may not. In fact, some of them may not even think of themselves as “goal-setters.” But if you were to ask them what they are doing to pursue their priorities, they could tell you, without hesitation.

4
They use “yes” and “no” wisely.

They say yes to things that clearly matter to them, and they say no to everything else. They understand time is a valuable and finite resource, so they don’t waste it on things that are contrary to their mission. They know how to minimize distraction. They are really great at living out what is most important to them—and they delegate, hire out, or simply ignore everything else.

5
They establish meaningful routines and rituals.

If a relationship with God is an important component of balance for them, they establish a daily ritual of prayer, meditation, or Bible reading. If debt-free living is an important component of balance for them, they routinely keep a budget. If intimacy in marriage is important to them, they have regular times of connection built into their week. Well-balanced people realize routines—good or bad—become habits. And habits determine the outcome of their lives.

6
They prioritize their health.

They aren’t necessarily running marathons or keeping detailed food logs (some are, though!), but they all understand that feeling well physically is a key component to a well-balanced life. This means they take good care of themselves. They try to get adequate rest. They generally watch what they eat. They make time for some sort of exercise on a regular basis. They minimize stress and know how to recharge when they feel depleted. In short, they have routines and rituals in place that support physical health.

7
They remain flexible.

This doesn’t mean they quickly abandon their routines or their priorities. It means they regularly reflect on what is working and what is not, and they make necessary adjustments, as needed. They realize life is complicated and messy, full of endless moving parts and ever changing seasons. So, they periodically examine their priorities, their routines, their rituals, and their commitments, and adjust them to fit their circumstances.

8
They invest deeply in relationships.

No matter what their definition of balance, whether introvert or extrovert, well-balanced people know they cannot live a well-balanced life in isolation. They are relational to the core, even if their core consists of only a few people. They have a healthy network surrounding them and supporting them—family, friends, coworkers, and/or church. They make time for regular interaction, regular conversation, preferably, face to face. They look to someone else for wisdom and encouragement–maybe a parent, a mentor, or a spiritual leader. They have a least one confidant–a best friend, a spouse, or a sibling. And they are regularly pouring into someone else– perhaps their children, a younger adult, or maybe a group of people through a volunteer effort. The people in their posse may change periodically (see #7!), but once they identify their people, they go deep.

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